Intro Achievement First is a brand new charter school in Providence, and this school also operates in Connecticut and New York. At first, critics fought hard against the opening of this charter school in Rhode Island because they argued that it would take away money from other public schools. This argument proved not strong enough for the supporters of opening this charter school. These supporters argued that it would help because they are offering alternative for the public schools who are struggling. Achievement First, as a whole program, prides itself on high expectations for every student, which has resulted in impressive academic gains for the network schools in Connecticut and New York. So far the school in Rhode Island is performing well and the students are very engaged, according to Providence Mayor Angel Taveras. As on today, Achievement First in Providence serves 180 kindergarten and First graders, and the school will grow over the next four years to go through fifth grade. The goal of this Achievement First is to have test scores that rival the best public schools in the state. (Emma Bychok)
Demographics The Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy recently opened in August of 2013, and serves Kindergarten through third grade. In the 2014-2015 school year there were 272 students enrolled. 56% of students are male, which results in 44% female. In contrast to the public school Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy is 88% African American or Hispanic whereas Holliman Elementary school is 83% white. At Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy, 30% of students are English Language Learners compared to 7% for the Rhode Island average and 0% at Holliman Elementary school. 85% of students at Achievement First qualify and are dependant on Free or Reduced-Price Lunch, compared to Holliman where 31% of students qualify. (Ellie Beargeon)
Teacher’s Attitudes: These statistics are from another elementary level Achievement First academy located in Brooklyn, New York. According to their statistics on their website, 58% of teachers say this school offers enough programs, classes, and activities to keep students engaged. 73% of teachers say the school does a good job teaching social-emotional skills, with 84% of teachers also agreeing that the school does a good job of teaching organizational and study skills. (Ellie, Taylor)
Test Scores Because Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy only opened two years ago, there is not a significant amount of information about their performance and test scores. Additionally, they do not take the same statewide and region-wide tests as the other public schools in Rhode Island and New England do. However, we do have data from another elementary level Achievement First academy in Brooklyn, New York. 50% of students in grades 3-8 scored a 3 or 4 on the state math exam, and 29% of students grades 3-8 scored a 3 or 4 on their state ELA exam. Of course, these are for New York exams but they are comparable.
Learning Environment The learning environment is very rich and in-depth at Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy, following in tradition with Achievement First’s commitment to excellent education. Inside of a first grade classroom, Rhode Island Public Radio’s Education Reporter Elisabeth Harrison, learned that reading is a big focus of all Achievement First schools. Children spend at least three hours a day studying reading, writing and vocabulary. Harrison noticed how Achievement First operates their classrooms differently in comparison to public schools. They have to follow specific rules, pay attention and speak only when prompted by the teacher. For example, when the teacher proposes a question to the students, she then asks them to turn to a partner to discuss what they think, and finally when she claps her hands, students are expected to be silent and facing forward towards the teacher. (Emma Bychok)
Parent’s Attitudes The new school will begin with approximately 180 kindergarten and first-grade students and add a grade each year until it serves 450 students in grades K-4. AF’s first Rhode Island school, Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy, opened in August 2013. With the opening of the new Mayoral Academy opened in August 2015, and the CEOs of the school were excited to be able to provide Rhode Island families with a higher and better education. “Sending my son to Achievement First is the best thing I have done for him,” said parent Yaneli Arias. “I believe that education is the biggest gift a parent can give to their child. (Borg pg 1). I have so many friends who are trying to get into Achievement First, and Achievement First Iluminar Mayoral Academy will give so many more parents the opportunity they want for their children.” The community was worried at first that bringing in an out-of-state charter school would be taking away from the community and trying to “privatize public education because some have corporate backing” (Borg pg 1). (Taylor Lawson)
Holliman Elementary School
Introduction: (Emily) Holliman Elementary School is a small school located in Warwick, Rhode Island. In this investigation, we will look further into student’s test scores, attendance rates, demographics, teacher: student ratios, and the learning environment. Ultimately, we aspire to prove what truly makes Holliman Elementary School, Holliman Elementary School.
Test scores: (Alexis) The New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) is employed in various grades in schools across New England. It’s presence in elementary schools is particularly heavy, as shown in the chart above. At Holliman Elementary School, grades 3-6 are required to take various subject tests. As seen above, each grade level must take the math and reading tests, while science is unique to fourth grade as writing is only taken in the fifth grade. Math scores saw a steady increase in proficiency up until the fifth grade where it saw a slight drop. Besides the fifth grade, scores of Holliman students were notably higher than the state average. A similar comparison can be made to the high reading scores. For example, 90% of fourth graders at Holliman were proficient in reading while the state average is 70% proficient. There was a similar gap in the other grades as well. When it comes to science, 55% of Holliman kids proved proficiency, compared to the state average of 41%. Although higher than the state average, this is a fairly low level of proficiency. This may suggest that more focus goes into the science program in elementary schools, as students who go on to high school generally don’t perform well on the science NECAP either. Finally, the level of proficiency for fifth grade writing is 10% higher than the state average of 64%. Overall, one can conclude that students at Holliman perform above average in all the given subjects than other students across Rhode Island.
Attendance Rate: (Alexis)
Attendance Rate
Chronic Absenteeism
Holliman Elementary School
95%
9%
State Schools (average)
95%
13%
As seen above, the attendance rate at Holliman is exactly the same as the Rhode Island average. Additionally, Holliman’s Chronic Absenteeism rate is lower than that of other Rhode Island schools by 4%. Generally, attendance rates are much higher in elementary school than middle school and high school. At this age, parents tend to be more involved in the student’s attendance by either driving them to school or accompanying them to the bus stop in the morning.
Demographics:(Emily) Majority of the community of Holliman elementary school is white with 83%. A merely 7% make up the hispanic population, 4% multicultural, 3% African American, and 2% Asian. 31% receive subsidized lunch. Shockingly, there are 0% of the students who are receiving bilingual education services, compared to a 7% on a statewide level. Also, 14% of their students seek special education services. The school is equally split half and half with a percentage of 48.6% of students each who are girls and boys.
Teacher: Student ratios(Emily) According to SurveyWorks, concerning all teachers there is a 1:9 teacher to student ratio, and for classroom teachers, there is a 1:15 ratio. These calculations are annually made on October 1.
Learning environment:(Emily)
90% of students feel safe walking through the halls
91.4% of students feel their school’s rules are fair
Did you tell a parent or teacher that someone bullied you?
86.8% said yes
Did the bullying stop after you told an adult?
65.5% said yes
Do your teachers care about you?
94.4% said yes
My teachers are nice to me
95.8% said yes
I can talk to an adult at my school if I'm having a problem at home.
59.7%
I can talk to an adult at my school if I'm having a problem with my school work.
94.4%
Have you been in a fight at school this year in which you and the other person hit/touched one another?
10.1%
Elaboration of Learning Environment: (Alexis) Generally, the students who filled out the SurveyWorks survey seemed fairly satisfied with multiple aspects of their school. When it comes to physical safety, 9 out of 10 students were comfortable with their environment. The same majority of students also believed that the rules employed in the school are fair. Almost 100% of students reported that their teachers are nice to them, and believe they can come forward with any issues they’re having at school. Interestingly enough, that percentage drops to around 60% when it comes to speaking to adults at school about issues at home. This shows that kids are more comfortable opening up about relative issues at school instead of what’s going on in their home life. In regards to bullying, almost 90% of students claimed to report any harassment to an adult. Consequently, about 65% of students reported that the issue was resolved following speaking to an adult. This makes it clear that teachers and other faculty are fairly effective at handling such situations and are able to take action when a problem arises. Finally, only 1 out of 10 students reported getting into a fight with another student. The community surrounding Holliman is a generally safe and quiet suburban neighborhood with little to no reports of crime or fights. This could affect the students’ attitudes towards fighting in school.
Conclusion: (Alexis) All of these various topics help form a picture of Holliman Elementary School in Warwick. It’s apparent that students in Holliman perform better overall on the NECAP than students in other public schools across the state. The attendance rate is equal to that of the state of Rhode Island, although their chronic absenteeism percentage is slightly lower. When looking at demographics, it’s clear that the majority of students are White, with a much smaller percentage of Hispanic, African American, Asian and other ethnicities. There is also a 0% rate of bilingual students compared to the 7% statewide average. This reflects the demographics of the surrounding community with a large white population. Therefore, one can conclude there is little diversity at the school. As reported in the StudentWorks survey, elementary schoolers at Holliman are generally happy with their learning environments and are comfortable speaking to adults in the school. This report sought to help gain a better understanding of Holliman Elementary School in Warwick, Rhode Island.
Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy
Intro
Achievement First is a brand new charter school in Providence, and this school also operates in Connecticut and New York. At first, critics fought hard against the opening of this charter school in Rhode Island because they argued that it would take away money from other public schools. This argument proved not strong enough for the supporters of opening this charter school. These supporters argued that it would help because they are offering alternative for the public schools who are struggling. Achievement First, as a whole program, prides itself on high expectations for every student, which has resulted in impressive academic gains for the network schools in Connecticut and New York. So far the school in Rhode Island is performing well and the students are very engaged, according to Providence Mayor Angel Taveras. As on today, Achievement First in Providence serves 180 kindergarten and First graders, and the school will grow over the next four years to go through fifth grade. The goal of this Achievement First is to have test scores that rival the best public schools in the state. (Emma Bychok)
Demographics
The Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy recently opened in August of 2013, and serves Kindergarten through third grade. In the 2014-2015 school year there were 272 students enrolled. 56% of students are male, which results in 44% female. In contrast to the public school Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy is 88% African American or Hispanic whereas Holliman Elementary school is 83% white. At Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy, 30% of students are English Language Learners compared to 7% for the Rhode Island average and 0% at Holliman Elementary school. 85% of students at Achievement First qualify and are dependant on Free or Reduced-Price Lunch, compared to Holliman where 31% of students qualify.
(Ellie Beargeon)
Teacher’s Attitudes:
These statistics are from another elementary level Achievement First academy located in Brooklyn, New York. According to their statistics on their website, 58% of teachers say this school offers enough programs, classes, and activities to keep students engaged. 73% of teachers say the school does a good job teaching social-emotional skills, with 84% of teachers also agreeing that the school does a good job of teaching organizational and study skills.
(Ellie, Taylor)
Test Scores
Because Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy only opened two years ago, there is not a significant amount of information about their performance and test scores. Additionally, they do not take the same statewide and region-wide tests as the other public schools in Rhode Island and New England do. However, we do have data from another elementary level Achievement First academy in Brooklyn, New York. 50% of students in grades 3-8 scored a 3 or 4 on the state math exam, and 29% of students grades 3-8 scored a 3 or 4 on their state ELA exam. Of course, these are for New York exams but they are comparable.
Learning Environment
The learning environment is very rich and in-depth at Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy, following in tradition with Achievement First’s commitment to excellent education. Inside of a first grade classroom, Rhode Island Public Radio’s Education Reporter Elisabeth Harrison, learned that reading is a big focus of all Achievement First schools. Children spend at least three hours a day studying reading, writing and vocabulary. Harrison noticed how Achievement First operates their classrooms differently in comparison to public schools. They have to follow specific rules, pay attention and speak only when prompted by the teacher. For example, when the teacher proposes a question to the students, she then asks them to turn to a partner to discuss what they think, and finally when she claps her hands, students are expected to be silent and facing forward towards the teacher. (Emma Bychok)
Parent’s Attitudes
The new school will begin with approximately 180 kindergarten and first-grade students and add a grade each year until it serves 450 students in grades K-4. AF’s first Rhode Island school, Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy, opened in August 2013. With the opening of the new Mayoral Academy opened in August 2015, and the CEOs of the school were excited to be able to provide Rhode Island families with a higher and better education. “Sending my son to Achievement First is the best thing I have done for him,” said parent Yaneli Arias. “I believe that education is the biggest gift a parent can give to their child. (Borg pg 1). I have so many friends who are trying to get into Achievement First, and Achievement First Iluminar Mayoral Academy will give so many more parents the opportunity they want for their children.” The community was worried at first that bringing in an out-of-state charter school would be taking away from the community and trying to “privatize public education because some have corporate backing” (Borg pg 1).
(Taylor Lawson)
Holliman Elementary School
Introduction: (Emily)
Holliman Elementary School is a small school located in Warwick, Rhode Island. In this investigation, we will look further into student’s test scores, attendance rates, demographics, teacher: student ratios, and the learning environment. Ultimately, we aspire to prove what truly makes Holliman Elementary School, Holliman Elementary School.
Test scores: (Alexis)
The New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) is employed in various grades in schools across New England. It’s presence in elementary schools is particularly heavy, as shown in the chart above. At Holliman Elementary School, grades 3-6 are required to take various subject tests. As seen above, each grade level must take the math and reading tests, while science is unique to fourth grade as writing is only taken in the fifth grade. Math scores saw a steady increase in proficiency up until the fifth grade where it saw a slight drop. Besides the fifth grade, scores of Holliman students were notably higher than the state average. A similar comparison can be made to the high reading scores. For example, 90% of fourth graders at Holliman were proficient in reading while the state average is 70% proficient. There was a similar gap in the other grades as well. When it comes to science, 55% of Holliman kids proved proficiency, compared to the state average of 41%. Although higher than the state average, this is a fairly low level of proficiency. This may suggest that more focus goes into the science program in elementary schools, as students who go on to high school generally don’t perform well on the science NECAP either. Finally, the level of proficiency for fifth grade writing is 10% higher than the state average of 64%. Overall, one can conclude that students at Holliman perform above average in all the given subjects than other students across Rhode Island.
Attendance Rate: (Alexis)
As seen above, the attendance rate at Holliman is exactly the same as the Rhode Island average. Additionally, Holliman’s Chronic Absenteeism rate is lower than that of other Rhode Island schools by 4%. Generally, attendance rates are much higher in elementary school than middle school and high school. At this age, parents tend to be more involved in the student’s attendance by either driving them to school or accompanying them to the bus stop in the morning.
Demographics:(Emily)
Majority of the community of Holliman elementary school is white with 83%. A merely 7% make up the hispanic population, 4% multicultural, 3% African American, and 2% Asian. 31% receive subsidized lunch. Shockingly, there are 0% of the students who are receiving bilingual education services, compared to a 7% on a statewide level. Also, 14% of their students seek special education services. The school is equally split half and half with a percentage of 48.6% of students each who are girls and boys.
Teacher: Student ratios(Emily)
According to SurveyWorks, concerning all teachers there is a 1:9 teacher to student ratio, and for classroom teachers, there is a 1:15 ratio. These calculations are annually made on October 1.
Elaboration of Learning Environment: (Alexis)
Generally, the students who filled out the SurveyWorks survey seemed fairly satisfied with multiple aspects of their school. When it comes to physical safety, 9 out of 10 students were comfortable with their environment. The same majority of students also believed that the rules employed in the school are fair. Almost 100% of students reported that their teachers are nice to them, and believe they can come forward with any issues they’re having at school. Interestingly enough, that percentage drops to around 60% when it comes to speaking to adults at school about issues at home. This shows that kids are more comfortable opening up about relative issues at school instead of what’s going on in their home life. In regards to bullying, almost 90% of students claimed to report any harassment to an adult. Consequently, about 65% of students reported that the issue was resolved following speaking to an adult. This makes it clear that teachers and other faculty are fairly effective at handling such situations and are able to take action when a problem arises. Finally, only 1 out of 10 students reported getting into a fight with another student. The community surrounding Holliman is a generally safe and quiet suburban neighborhood with little to no reports of crime or fights. This could affect the students’ attitudes towards fighting in school.
Conclusion: (Alexis)
All of these various topics help form a picture of Holliman Elementary School in Warwick. It’s apparent that students in Holliman perform better overall on the NECAP than students in other public schools across the state. The attendance rate is equal to that of the state of Rhode Island, although their chronic absenteeism percentage is slightly lower. When looking at demographics, it’s clear that the majority of students are White, with a much smaller percentage of Hispanic, African American, Asian and other ethnicities. There is also a 0% rate of bilingual students compared to the 7% statewide average. This reflects the demographics of the surrounding community with a large white population. Therefore, one can conclude there is little diversity at the school. As reported in the StudentWorks survey, elementary schoolers at Holliman are generally happy with their learning environments and are comfortable speaking to adults in the school. This report sought to help gain a better understanding of Holliman Elementary School in Warwick, Rhode Island.
References
Achievement First Endeavor Charter School - insideschools.org. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2015, from http://insideschools.org/component/schools/school/1349
Borg, L. (2015, February 23). Achievement First to open another charter school in Providence. Retrieved October 30, 2015, from http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20150223/NEWS/150229710
Harrison, E. (2013, November 3). Despite Critics, Achievement First Charter School Up And Running. Retrieved October 30, 2015, from __http://ripr.org/post/despite-critics-achievement-first-charter-school-and-running__
Holliman School - School and District data - RIDE InfoWorks. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2015.